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”At a certain point in your life, probably when too much of it has gone by, you will open your eyes and see yourself for who you are, especially for everything that made you so different from all the awful normals.”
Nine-year-old Phoebe Lichten (Elle Fanning) makes a curious connection with the odd Miss Dodger (Patricia Clarkson), the school’s new drama teacher.
Phoebe’s a “different” kind of girl. She’s not particularly well liked by her classmates and as a result, she’s sometimes caustic toward them. Her teacher, Miss Reiter (Madhur Jaffrey) calls Phoebe’s parents – writers Hillary (Felicity Huffman) and Peter Lichten (Bill Pullman) – to determine if something is wrong with Phoebe or if something is going on at home to cause Phoebe to be like she is. Hillary is quite tired of the constant probing into why a highly intelligent child must be troubled. Hillary quite encourages Phoebe’s uniqueness. Peter would prefer that Phoebe conform more toward “the normal.” He also says things to Phoebe that are unintentionally hurtful.
After seeing a performance of “Swan Lake” with her mother, Phoebe signs up to audition for the school’s production of “Alice in Wonderland.” While every other little girl craves the role of Alice, Phoebe just wants a role in the play. She runs circles around all the other little girls at the audition.
Phoebe’s only real friend is Jamie (Ian Colletti), a charming but also different little boy who collects dolls and wants to play the Queen of Hearts. He tells Phoebe that in order to get what one wants, one needs to pray to God or make God feel one is worthy because they’ve done something they didn’t want to do. In Phoebe’s case, she steps up her obsessive compulsive rituals, even to the point of hurting herself, just so she will win a role. For Jamie, his participating in phys ed meant he won the role he wanted. And for Phoebe, she was cast in the play – as Alice, which caused a great deal of jealousy among the other girls in her class.
Miss Dodger allows the children to take leadership roles in the rehearsals and it’s obvious that Phoebe is the main leader. But outside of rehearsal time, Phoebe continues to display her uniqueness and the principal (Campbell Scott) says she can no longer be in the play. The news is devastating to Phoebe. Her mother and Miss Dodger fight hard to get Phoebe reinstated in the play but there are still rocky roads ahead. Over time, she understands cryptic messages from the characters in the Wonderland story.
Others in the cast include Bailee Madison as Phoebe’s younger sister Olivia; Peter Gerety as Phoebe’s psychologist and Humpty Dumpty; Maddie Corman as a teacher and the White Rabbit; Max Baker as another teacher and the King of Hearts. Look for others of the aforementioned cast playing Wonderland characters.
Written and directed by Daniel Barnz.
Run time: 1 hour, 58 minutes
Rated PG-13 for thematic material and brief strong language.
My personal rating: B+
Nine-year-old Phoebe Lichten (Elle Fanning) makes a curious connection with the odd Miss Dodger (Patricia Clarkson), the school’s new drama teacher.
Phoebe’s a “different” kind of girl. She’s not particularly well liked by her classmates and as a result, she’s sometimes caustic toward them. Her teacher, Miss Reiter (Madhur Jaffrey) calls Phoebe’s parents – writers Hillary (Felicity Huffman) and Peter Lichten (Bill Pullman) – to determine if something is wrong with Phoebe or if something is going on at home to cause Phoebe to be like she is. Hillary is quite tired of the constant probing into why a highly intelligent child must be troubled. Hillary quite encourages Phoebe’s uniqueness. Peter would prefer that Phoebe conform more toward “the normal.” He also says things to Phoebe that are unintentionally hurtful.
After seeing a performance of “Swan Lake” with her mother, Phoebe signs up to audition for the school’s production of “Alice in Wonderland.” While every other little girl craves the role of Alice, Phoebe just wants a role in the play. She runs circles around all the other little girls at the audition.
Phoebe’s only real friend is Jamie (Ian Colletti), a charming but also different little boy who collects dolls and wants to play the Queen of Hearts. He tells Phoebe that in order to get what one wants, one needs to pray to God or make God feel one is worthy because they’ve done something they didn’t want to do. In Phoebe’s case, she steps up her obsessive compulsive rituals, even to the point of hurting herself, just so she will win a role. For Jamie, his participating in phys ed meant he won the role he wanted. And for Phoebe, she was cast in the play – as Alice, which caused a great deal of jealousy among the other girls in her class.
Miss Dodger allows the children to take leadership roles in the rehearsals and it’s obvious that Phoebe is the main leader. But outside of rehearsal time, Phoebe continues to display her uniqueness and the principal (Campbell Scott) says she can no longer be in the play. The news is devastating to Phoebe. Her mother and Miss Dodger fight hard to get Phoebe reinstated in the play but there are still rocky roads ahead. Over time, she understands cryptic messages from the characters in the Wonderland story.
Others in the cast include Bailee Madison as Phoebe’s younger sister Olivia; Peter Gerety as Phoebe’s psychologist and Humpty Dumpty; Maddie Corman as a teacher and the White Rabbit; Max Baker as another teacher and the King of Hearts. Look for others of the aforementioned cast playing Wonderland characters.
Written and directed by Daniel Barnz.
Run time: 1 hour, 58 minutes
Rated PG-13 for thematic material and brief strong language.
My personal rating: B+
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